Auguste Herbin

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Vente : Villa Grisebach, Berlin, 29 juin 2001, lot 86
Collection particulière
Vente : Christie's, New York, 7 novembre 2002, lot 340
Acquis lors de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel 

New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Herbin, Recent Paintings, 1952-53, no. 17
Paris, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris, 7^ème Salon des Réalités nouvelles, 1952, no. 6, p. 14

J. Fitzsimmons, "Precisionist from Paris", Art Digest, vol. 27, no. 7, janvier 1953, p. 16
Geneviève Claisse, Herbin, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Paris, 1993, no. 943, reproduit p. 447

The canvas is not lined. There are 2 very superficial hairline circular craquelures : one in the lower right orange circle and one in the purple rectangle. A minimal pinhead sized spot of retouching in the orange circle and in the white area towards the upper right edge. Two small areas of retouching in white area towards the upper left corner and a few minimal pinhead spots of retouching in the same zone, all visible under UV light. Overall this work is in very good original condition. Colours are slightly warmer in the original.
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signed 'Herbin' and dated '1952' (lower right), titled '"Bien"' (lower left), oil on canvas. Painted in 1952.

Considéré par beaucoup comme le fondateur de l'abstraction en France, Auguste Herbin met au point en 1946 son "Alphabet plastique", véritable aboutissement de sa recherche créatrice. Cet essai établit une correspondance entre chaque lettre de l'alphabet, une couleur, une association de formes et une sonorité ou une note musicale. Cette codification dépasse une vision matérialiste du monde en évoquant les niveaux supra-sensibles de l'existence et deviendra une des références majeures de la peinture abstraite.

Cette démarche donne lieu à des compositions géométriques calmes et équilibrées. En 1952, Herbin a acquis une remarquable maîtrise de l'harmonie des formes et des couleurs. Bien est une belle illustration de ces grandes formes pures bien individualisées et codifiées dont la disposition crée un équilibre dynamique efficace. Les figures géométriques s'articulent pour créer une structure claire sans être figée, une composition ordonnée autour de bandes verticales et horizontales blanches dont émanent les cercles, carrés, rectangles et triangles isocèles. Herbin y suit scrupuleusement la concordance des lettres et on retrouve ainsi dans la composition :

- Le rouge pourpre du 'B', associé aux formes sphériques et quadrangulaires, ainsi qu'aux notes do et si.

- L'orangé du 'I', combiné aux formes sphériques et triangulaires et aux sonorités ré et mi.

- Les sphères rouges du 'E' corrélées à la note do.

- Toutes les formes et le blanc (soit le spectre de toutes les couleurs) du 'N', également associé à toutes les notes musicales de la gamme.

 

Considered by many as the founder of abstract art in France, in 1946 Auguste Herbin formulated his "Plastic Alphabet", the true culmination of his creative research. This essay established a correspondence between each letter of the alphabet, a colour, an association of shapes and a sound or a music note. This codification was intended to go beyond a materialist conception of the world and to convey the supra-sensible levels of nature; it would eventually become one of the main reference texts for abstract painting.

This approach led to calm and measured geometrical compositions. In 1952, Herbin had achieved a remarkable mastery of harmonious forms and colours. Bien is a fine example of these large and pure forms, well defined and codified, whose organization hangs on an efficient dynamic balance. The geometrical figures fit together to create a clear but moving composition, centred around vertical and horizontal white stripes from which emerge circles, squares, rectangles and triangles. Herbin carefully follows the correspondence of letters and therefore in the composition we can see:

-        The crimson red associated with 'B', along with round and squared shapes and the notes "do" and "si"

-        The orange of the 'I', combined with the round and triangular forms and the notes "ré" and "mi"

-        The red circles of the 'E' corresponding with the note "do"

-        All of the shapes and the colour white associated with the letter 'N', as well as all of the notes of the musical scale.